


The Great Devouring

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, F/M, Free Verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22284274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: Because Lily was not careful; she just stood there and let James hack away at her walls until she gave in to him. The end result was an all-consuming attraction...and love.
Relationships: Lily Evans Potter/James Potter
Kudos: 2





	The Great Devouring

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. A poem inspired by one of my university courses. ;P Interestingly, this is my 450th fic on the site. -w-Read, review, and enjoy!

> _"Four harts leap about the branches of the ash and eat the shoots_ [of Yggdrasil] _…"_
> 
> — _Snorri Sturluson,_ _The Prose Edda_

* * *

there he is  
«as usual»  
waiting for her to walk  
.b.y.  
&she can't l!o!o!k at him  
&she refuses to a:c:k:n:o:w:l:e:d:g:e his presence  
(because acknowledging a person makes them real)  
&she makes b*e*l*i*e*v*e that all's silent as she passes

But he  
Falls into step  
With her

it's just any o-t-h-e-r day  
{why should one day be lauded more than the rest?}  
&she goes to c/l/a/s/s  
&she jokes with her m,a,t,e,s  
(because they're as used to James' tail-wagging as she is)  
&she thinks that maybe she'll blow off homework for one night

For her,  
Birthdays are days  
To relax

however, in the common room,  
all's [not] well  
&Lupin is giving h.e.r looks  
&Black is _coughing_  
(can't he get a life & leave her alone along with his friend here?)  
&Pettigrew is looking ?bewildered? as usual  
because James has been so quiet all day

Is he  
Trying to behave  
For once?

{For Her?}

&it's like this for a while  
-a long while-  
*more than a month, thank-you-very-much*  
&Lily almost starts to forget that he's  
•t_h_e_r_e•

so when |one day|  
he's absent  
she rEaLiZeS what his plan was  
 _all a~l~o~n~g_  
&it's killing her to breathe right now  
&it hurts to look around in an alien common room  
(because his face is so familiar that it's  
 _comforting_ )  
&Lily now knows  
he's gotten past her  
|walls|

But it's more than that—  
He's severed the strings holding her heart in place—  
And now he's made sure he's the only one who can carry it,  
Safely in the place of those strings—

&that is why it aches to be without him&

&why it ached more than anything else when James went first&

(He took her heart with him to the Underworld.)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I've taken a mythology course this semester, and I know I made a [Jily](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22093207) using the "hart" pun before (for those who don't know, a hart is another name for a stag), but this idea wouldn't leave me once I read that quote from The Prose Edda. Which is a darn good read, I must say. Ahh, I do love mythos…
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki :}
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* Not a bad FV from 2012. A sad nod to canon at the end there. But, Merlin. All I can remember from that damn mythology class is that I ended up practically teaching it. B/ And that was only my second semester in first year…UGH.


End file.
